When Spines and Hearts Break
by SV Green
Summary: When Sakura puts Naruto into a coma, she discoveres how much she really needs him she's not the only one. Who will he choose when so much rides on the decision? While Naruto's spoiled for choice, Kiba's monopoly has been taken from him and he's not happy.
1. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

_**Author's Note**_

This is just a one-shot I came up with while I was bored. This will _not_ become a sequel, you hear me? NO SEQUEL! This is inspired by a person's plight to get some peace after being dragged to hell and back. The characters are from the Naruto Shippuden (may be spelt incorrectly) series. The characters could be slightly OOC, except Sakura, who has an excuse (sleep depravation). Anyone complaining about the lack of disclaimer needs to grow some common sense; if you need a disclaimer to tell you I don't own Naruto, you need serious help. Please enjoy and review. Concrit is welcome while flame will be ignored.

**Meditation/Melee Therapy**

Sakura dragged her seemingly disproportionately heavy bag up the concrete path through her jungle of a front garden. If she'd had enough energy to, she probably would have felt guilty about its neglect, but right know, all she had space for in her head was three words: _food…bath…peace_.

Sasuke had dragged her mercilessly around the emo convention for hours. Usually, she'd have been head-over-heels for some alone time with Sasuke, but after Naruto's midnight band-session with Kiba working the overdrive pedal like a pump, she could think of better things to do (i.e. sleep). Sasuke blabbered on beside her as she, with visible difficulty, hoisted the damned bag onto the veranda.

"…and I got one of those subscriptions to 'The Emo's Guide'. They tell you how to do everything; how to extend an aura of misery, how to avoid society and how to fob obviously crushing girls off…"

Sakura groaned. Why me? What did I do to deserve this! He just won't leave me in peace, she though, on the brink of tears. Am I cursed?

"…and I got that black hair dye, my hair's already black so this'll make it even more black and the piercing guy said he'd give me a discount if I came to see him soon and we _have _to go back tomorrow…"

Yep….definitely cursed.

"….and that weirdo with the wig claimed he was emo but I could tell he was a blond with a wig and he _laughs_! What self-respecting emo laughs in public?! He was fake as the wig he was wearing and that's _really_ fake…"

Sakura soldiered on, trying to block everything out. Just one step closer to the door, and another, one more. Then Sasuke would have to leave her alone and go home.

"…people think that black's the only colour emos can wear but there's this new scarlet red colour that they've certified as emo-friendly, I think I have one. Do I have one? Oh my god I forgot to get one! I have to go back!"

And Sakura reached breaking point.

"I AM NOT GOING BACK THERE! I AM GOING INSIDE AND YOU ARE LEAVING AND IF I DON'T SLEEP UNTIL THE NEW MILLENIUM, SOMEONE'S GONNA PAY!!!!" she yelled, the sonic force of her voice sending Sasuke flying back into the feral shrubs; his bags followed shortly after. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need my beauty sleep," she said in her sweet/homicidal voice, unlocking the door, entering and slamming it behind her. Sasuke just lay there in the scrubs, shocked. Since when did Sakura turn murderous on him like that?

Sakura tossed her disproportionately heavy mini-bag onto the lounge as she passed, jumping as it missed the lounge and hit the floor, breaking through it like a bullet through rice-paper. She looked at the hole in the floorboards, looking perturbed, and then continued her quest for some peace and quiet. She ran a bath, dumping in anything remotely fragrant, and sunk beneath the warm sheets of the water. She lay there, feeling the serenity she'd been longing for the whole day pry the sharp hands of stress from her muscles. She sank a little further into the water and felt sleep not far off. She was about to doze off when the explosively loud sound of the front door being flung open sent the long-awaited feeling of serenity to the emergency ward.

"Sakura! I'm home!" hollered Naruto. Sakura's long-lost serenity died in agony in the emergency ward. Sakura groaned with frustration, pre-emptively mourning the loss of her only chance of peace. "And I brought Kiba! We're gonna have another jam-session tonight," he yelled again. Now her serenity was being cremated. His footsteps thundered closer. Sakura tried to hide beneath the bubbles of her bath. Then both boys walked in and stopped, staring at her. Sakura looked up and screamed with hurricane level force. Her verbal volley was accompanied by volleys of anything within reach. Her conditioner hit Kiba in the face with lethal force and sent him spiralling through the air, into the wall opposite the bathroom door. Naruto snapped out of his initial shock and became blabbering apologies and excuses.

"I didn't mean it I swear! I'm sorry! I didn't know you were…" Sakura's hair-dyer flew into Naruto, sending him tumbling across the carpet, right on top of Kiba. Sakura snatched a towel off the rack near the bath and wrapped it around her.

"Naruto you bastard…" she screeched. Then she saw that both boys were blushing profusely. "You planned this! Oh you sick, perverted, horrible…!' Her verbal array was punctuated by one of Sakura's Earth-shattering punches.

"…filthy, sick, annoying…!" her uppercut landed perfectly on Kiba's chin, sending him rocketing into the plaster in the roof. "…foul, repulsive, sneaky, dirty…!" A roundhouse punch sent Naruto flying through the front window. He landed, skidding, face-first into the garden, sliding 9 metres until coming to a stop just in front of a pile of rose-clippings. He breathed a sigh of relief. Sakura flew through the broken window and was about to give him a "Descending Elbow" when the she noticed that she had left the house, dressed in a fluffy, pink towel and the neighbours were all looking at her. She ran back inside, into her bedroom and flung on the nearest set of clothes. She then took a deep breath, preserving her anger for later. She walked out into the living-room and sat down, hoping some meditation would revive the cremated peace of the house.

_Five Minutes Later…_

Sakura felt the tension fall from her limbs. She was at peace at last. Nothing in the world could…

_REEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEENNAAAAAAAAAA_

Sakura's eyes shot open, her teeth clenched together in a grimace. She got up slowly with predatory grace and walked with contradictory calm to the garage door and ripped it off its hinges and stormed in. Both boys were standing near mountainous amps, their electric guitars held skilfully in their hands as they shook the neighbourhood with the screeching.

_REEEEEENEEEEENEEEEEEENEEEREEEEEEEESnap_

Sakura walked out, looking satisfied and calm. Kiba, however, was lying on the ground, unconscious, his guitar lying broken in half over his head. Naruto was struggling against the guitar strings which now lay, like a cocoon up to his nose. Sakura went back to meditating, finally reunited with her long-lost peace and quiet.


	2. Blue Lagoon Birthday Special

_**Author's Note**_

I know that I should be writing the rest of Yugioh and the Martini of DOOM but this is a special occasion. It's Blue Lagoon's today (you know who you are). I thought this might make a nice side-gift that doesn't need wrapping as the last time I wrapped anything; I ended up in a tangle that NASA probably couldn't work out. Hope you enjoy the surprise; so help me if anyone flames this. I _might_ write another chapter, depending on the review count. If you have any suggestions on the plot (if I _do_ decide to continue it), mention it in a review. So from me: **happy birthday to the Blue Lagoon**. Concrit is welcomed but flamers will be permanently labelled morons. PS, I would like to formally apologise for the following shamelessly egotistical dream scene. It made me gag just writing it.

**The Blue Lagoon's Birthday Special**

_The waves high-fived the beach under the golden rays of the sun as Naruto lay back on a deck-chair, feeling the warming rays of the sun wash over him like liquid warmth. The sharp tang of the Summer sea greeted him as he slid back the sliding glass door; his bare feet thumped on the decking boards outside. The day seemed to greet him as he walked out across the beach of lustrous sand towards the Beach Patrol shed, grinning. Today seemed perfect. No, he corrected, it __would__ be perfect. His day would be complete when he saw his Sakura swimming, almost dancing among the waves, her arms gliding in a graceful motion, caressing rather than paddling through the waves. He was greeted with the insulated warmth of the corrugated iron walls as he opened the creaking shed door as padded inside. The surf-rafts, floatation rings and other equipment hung still on the hooks, begging him for some job satisfaction. He ignored their unspoken pleas and headed straight to the locker room; his feet hitting cold tiles as he strutted in. The bright blue and white tiles glinted clean as he passed them by, like so many swooning girls. His tanned hands locked in his locker combination and the locker swung open to reveal his Life Guard uniform, a red and yellow swimming cap with a pair of matching board-shorts, sitting crumpled at the back indignantly after being flung inside in a hurry the previous day. Naruto scooped it up and changed, admiring the way the red and yellow cap drew attention to his blond hair and blue eyes. Sakura's gonna drop-dead when she sees me, he thought as he chuckled._

_Soon he was on the beach, strutting across the sandy run-way. He flashed a nearby group of girls a stereo-typical charming grin, they replied with eye-lid batting and suggestive looks. God I love the perks of this job, he thought. Not that he didn't enjoy the other perks; saving people's lives etc, but this was his favourite part of the job. He swung nimbly up onto the watch tower seat, looking for his favourite __other__ perk. And there she was, gliding among the waves. Suddenly a fin sliced through the glassy surface of the ocean. It made a bee-line for the unsuspecting heart-throb. Naruto leaped from the stand and pelted across the sand to the water. He waded in and dived, the thrill of the sudden cold distracting him for only a second. He powered through the force of the currents. But as he drew nearer to the pink-haired maiden, so too did the fin. He swam harder. While Sakura swam with the water, he powered against it, with practiced skill he drove hard through the surf and met his adversary. The shark leapt from the water and landed, jaws first on Naruto. He pushed off the cavernous inner mouth of the shark, his arms holding the lethal jaws at bay. They battled. Naruto's muscle, the shark's teeth. The jaws gave way slightly. He pushed harder, seeing his opponent weakened gave him the burst of energy he needed. Roaring with the exertion, he threw himself out of the shark's cavernous mouth just as the guillotine-like jaws clamped together. Summoning his last reserves of energy, he dragged the shark onto the bay, the onlookers forming a circle around the carnivorous fish. Sakura raced onto the sand to where Naruto stood, concern sharpening her soft features. He stood, his eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable "you saved my life" kiss. The kiss that never came. She ran right past him and kneeled beside the shark, sobbing over its cold, lifeless corpse. She stroked its neck as it slipped from the world, comforted that at least __one__ human cared. As its final breath left its body, Sakura stood up, her hair tangled like a storm of pink. _

"_**NARUTO! YOU HORRIBLE, VICIOUS KILLER!**__" She turned to him, her eyes seething with a look which made grown men cry and roll into the foetal position. "You killed it, it wasn't doing any harm and you killed it. Just to look heroic. You selfish BASTARD," she yelled coldly, chasing him up the shoals, swinging her famous Earth-shattering punches at any available part of his body she could reach. One of her punches glanced off his shoulder. He flew into a dizzying array of tumbles across the dunes. The force of her strike carried Naruto straight through the support beams of the watch stand. When his vision cleared, he was lying on his back, staring up into Sakura's cold, malicious eyes. He hoped it was just sea-water running down his leg. Sakura moved away, he heard the squeaking of dry sand as she went. He sighed with relief. This was light compared with what her eyes threatened him with. Suddenly he heard the screech and moan of steel bending and breaking, then suddenly, Sakura stood in his narrow line of sigh, holding his watch tower menacingly. Now it definitely __wasn't__ sea water running down his leg. Sakura proceeded to beat him to a tender consistency with his own tower, the whole town vibrating with the impact of her blows. _

Naruto woke in his hospital bed, screaming.

"Please don't hurt me!' he begged, squirming with the haze of sleep still befogging his mind. He stopped. Why was everything white? Why was there beeping and why the hell was he wearing a plastic robe, made from the same material as shower curtains? He blinked. His gaze followed a plastic tube which came from a plastic, professional-looking bag hanging from a metal stand, and snaked along his arm, finally finding an entrance under the sticky tape and bandages wrapped around his wrist. He gagged. Needles didn't agree with his constitution, let alone IV drips. His stiff neck twisted with agonizing resistance to his right. There, on a screen, was a bright green line moving up and down, emitting that beeping sound. His breath caught in his throat. The beeping became a drone of continuous high-pitched complaint. This seems familiar, like déjà vu. Wait a second…The realisation dawned on him. I'm in hospital! The beeping increased its tempo. The sharp scent of antiseptic stung his nose. He'd seen enough cheesy soap-operas to know he'd been in a coma. His eyes wandered the desolately white room, looking for reassurance. He found it. Kiba was sitting by the window in a wheel-chair, chatting to a young nurse. Her hair danced across her back as she threw her head back in a fit of laughter that echoed in the confines of the cramped hospital room. Kiba's quick smile and wit usually had that effect on people. _Damn it! Why can't I be witty and charming?! Then Sakura would __have__ to fall for me then_, he thought.

With a jerk, Naruto brought his wandering mind back to wondering why he had woken up feeling as mobile as a carved statue, in a hospital bed, with a rubber tube in his arm. He raked through his memory. _I was coming home from Kiba's. He was staying the night. We walked in on Sakura-san. She beat the c®p out of us. Then…oh yeah, we practiced that new song I wrote in the garage. She came in and broke Kiba's guitar and……nothing. I can't remember! Have I had another blackout?! Kyubi!_

"Don't look at me" protested the kyubi indignantly, swishing all it's tales in annoyance. _So if it wasn't the kyubi, then what was it?_ Then it all came back in one tsunami of beatings and the creative horrors of guitar strings. He shuddered as he relived the relentless hurricane of Sakura on a bad day. _So she's finally done it, she beaten me to a coma like she always threatened. I wonder if she's cooled down. _

"Naruto you freaking' idiot!"

Naruto cringed. His head shot around to see where the pink-haired hurricane was. He found her by the door, in jeans, a pink shirt and her hair billowing in the breeze from the open window. Naruto sighed.

_Oh my God, she's beautiful, _he drooled. Then the euphoria stopped when her eyes took on that look; the one that made hardened criminals cry and even the most vicious of predators run screaming back to where it came from. He watched in slow motion as she strode into the ward and completed her beating with the verbal lashing she'd been waiting weeks to give since the hospital bills started rolling in.

"Naruto! You selfish dirt-bag! Do you have any idea how much this lifestyle costs?! You've lay there over 2 weeks, just sleeping while Kakashi-sensei's been working us to the bone and the bills have absolutely killed any chance of me getting those new shoes!" Her yelling probably shook the whole building. As it was, the young nurse Kiba was chatting up had backed slowly out of the room and run off yelling about a pink-haired psycho. Sakura strode closer still. "And I've had to console Hinata-san since! Every ten minutes for the first weeks: 'Do you think Naruto-san is going to be alright? Will he still be able to be a ninja? Can I visit him?' and she hasn't spoken to me since she found out it was me that put your sorry behind into traction!

_She's so luminous when she's irate_, he continued to drool, oblivious to how close to another few weeks in a coma he was.

"…and I've been getting hate-mail since from the yaoi fangirls since!" Her faced had gone from the usual pink to a fiery red as she grew more and more enraged, but now, as she reached the end of her pent up rage, she was beginning to reach the borders of concern. Suddenly the fire in her voice fizzled out.

"…a-and I've had to wait here for weeks, listening to the nurses nag and…" she continued, her body shuddering with each sob, like the weight of her guilt and fear had come back, landing on her like barbell weights. Tears flowed, like the tentative first steps of a river returning to it's dried up path.

"…do you think it's easy? Sitting here while you just lie there, like you're asleep but you might never wake up and…and…!" She'd reached the end of her hatred. The flood-gates of her regret and remorse opened and her _real_ feeling flowed out. She slumped against Naruto, crying into his hospital robes. Naruto was taken aback by this sudden transition from murderous rage to regret and sorrow. After a moment of shocked paralysis, he finally turned to return the embrace. _She does love me_, his mind mulled over this sudden revelation. _She really, really, loves me!_ Soon both were crying into each other's shoulder. Kiba sat in his wheelchair by the window, looking on in shock and sheer disbelief. _But she's mine! I'm the one supposed to have Sakura on my shoulder! This isn't fair!_ He seethed inwardly, trying to look calm and happy for them. Suddenly a voice echoed in the jealous depths of his mind.

_Oh get over it! You'll get your chance next-time I do a fanfic like this. Though I wouldn't get too protective, she's paired with just about every male character in Anime._

Kiba sat bolt upright. _What the hell was that?_ It seemed to come from _inside_ him, like a thought but…different…foreign. The thorn of jealousy twisted deep in his chest, bringing him back to the task at hand. Sakura was _his_, not Naruto's. His own best friend had stabbed him in the back and taken Sakura. _I can have any girl I like, and Naruto can't get a date so save his life, so why can't I have her?_ Kiba was always ambitious, but now, encountering a girl who was out of reach, that ambition drove him into the wall that had formed between them. _Why isn't she mine?_ His jealousy twisted into anger, then wrath. _He stabbed me in the back, taking something that's mine…_, his mind turned over this new notion, _so if he takes what's mine, he doesn't deserve her, so I'd be only doing my moral duty by taking her back!_ Although brutal, it made a feral kind of sense; an eye for an eye is the law of nature.

Naruto and Sakura sat back, their tears emptied. Neither said anything. They didn't need to. They just sat in silence as their minds caught up. It was Sakura who finally broke the silence.

"Did you think I didn't care?" Naruto was taken aback (again).

"I…knew you cared but, I didn't think you really liked me, you know, the way you hang off Sasuke when he's around and the way you drooled over Kiba…I just thought you liked one of them" he said softly, staring distantly into space.

"I don't _hang_ over Sasuke, and I don't _drool_ over Kiba…" she scoffed indignantly, ruining the romantic mood. "Sasuke's suave, cool and aloof but he's cold…sort of removed, he'd never love me back. Actually, I don't think he loves anyone. Look, Kiba makes me laugh and has that…rugged look but he's too arrogant, he's charming… but he's knows it sort-of-thing" she smiled. Naruto looked back around suddenly, hearing what he's needed to hear for years. "But you, you're kind, loyal, and cute; you treat me like an equal, like…you need me, and that's all I've ever wanted." Her hand danced into his and squeezed protectively, she felt him squeeze back. They stared back at each other, a thousand words passed between them, as neither said anything. Kiba watched on, plotting revenge, the ideas becoming more lethal and exotic with each moment.

"**Attention Guests: visiting hours have finished and our patients need their rest. Please follow the blue line to the exit and have a nice day."**

The recorded announcement rang through the building through the PA system; the tone of loneliness breaking up the reunions of loved ones. "Well, I'm not going anywhere!" Her posture became as adamant as her mind. Just then an ape-looking, mountain of a nurse with a mole on her faces and loosely applied lipstick thundered into the room.

"Look lady, visiting hours are over, the exit's over there," she grunted, her tone deep and withered, almost a croak. She raised her arm, as large as a tree trunk, and indicated the blue line running down the halls, as if a paintbrush had seen the nurse and run screaming for the front desk. "Uh…maybe I should let you get some rest. Bye!" she smiled nervously then quickly kissed him and almost ran towards the exit. She dodged around the hitman/nurse and left. _Bet I know why this one got hired_, he thought bitterly. _I was so close! She nearly kissed me! _Then he remembered the brief peck on the cheek he'd received as Sakura fled from the pro-wrestler/nurse. _But that doesn't count! It wasn't even on the lips! I mean a __real__ kiss; _he groaned flopping back onto the rock-hard hospital bed. _And how the hell is anyone supposed to get 'their rest' when the damn beds are like sandstone! This place sucks,_ he whined to himself. Better not to complain out-loud when _she_ was in the room. _The minute I can walk again, I'm outta' here,_ he thought.

_There, in a field of wildflowers, two figures ran to embrace each other _(no prizes for guessing which figures)_ in slow motion. The blossoms danced into the air as they passed, getting ever closer. Her pink hair rippled against her back as she ran. His eyes were alight with all the fireworks of his feelings. They met in a loving embrace and rolled, kissing down the hill, __more__ blossoms floating in their wake. They stopped at the bottom, both smiling. Naruto looked further up, hoping to lose himself once more in her crystalline eyes. Suddenly it wasn't Sakura anymore, but the gorilla/nurse. Her mole drew his gaze in, a sight so horrible, he couldn't look away. _

"**Hey kid, wake up. Breakfast. Your friend ain't gonna leave any for you!"**

Naruto woke screaming the next morning, covering his face as if to hide from the image of the mole from his mind, where it clung with perfect clarity. He stopped. As he opened his eyes, he realised it hadn't been as real as he thought, he sighed with sheer relief. _Thank you merciful God,_ _I didn't make out with the nurse! Fewwwwwwwww! _Just then the Hulk/nurse jumped into his viewpoint, so close that the mole seemed to try and reach out to stroke his face. He screamed…again. She drew back abruptly, almost dropping the tray she held over him. Naruto tried to sweep the cobwebs of sleep from his mind, stopping to realise that this wasn't a nightmare but equally traumatic reality. The nurse stood back, watching him through hazel eyes which spoke of immeasurable hurt behind an unyielding veil of a steely will. Naruto stared back at the startled nurse, suddenly feeling like the lowest form of life on the planet as the pained look sliced through him. She broke eye-contact and moved slowly towards his bedside table where she quietly placed the tray down.

"It's there when you want it…" she mumbled, her voice strained against the coming flood of tears. She turned and made to leave, only pausing briefly for one last look back at him, her face softened by tears and vulnerability, yet hardened with conviction. With that, she fled, wracked with fits of sobbing as tears flowed from her eyes, hoping she could get to the women's toilets before any of the other nurses saw her like this. She'd learned that some of them could be crueller than the blond boy she'd just visited.

"Wait!" Naruto sat bolt upright and called after the nurse but kept running, sobbing all the way. _What did I do?! I wasn't mean or anything! What's eating her?_ He moved from bewilderment to confusion and back again, trying to figure out what he'd done to send her howling from the room. His heart dropped down into his feet. He felt low, _really_ low. 40,000 Leagues under the Sea low (an early 20th Century classic novel). _But I didn't do anything! Why do I feel responsible for something that isn't even my fault?!_ But his reasoning didn't matter. Those eyes had called him something so deprived, there wasn't a word for it, and there was no escape from _that_ kind of guilt. _Maybe if I…_

"**Naruto-chan!**"

Naruto jumped, coming close to falling out of bed. _That sounds like…_

Hinata ran laughing joyously down the hall, her irregular leaping footsteps dancing down the hall towards him. She burst in, practically jumping on him as she flew past the IV drip and hugged him like a vice-clamp. He was thrown back by the sheer force behind her hug. "Naruto-chan, you woke up! Sakura phoned yesterday and told me and I… I couldn't come right away because of training and I _really_ missed you and I…I…" she stopped suddenly. In a quieter tone, as if to stop the grim reaper from hearing, she continued. "I thought you were going to die," she whispered, burying herself in his shoulder where she began to sob. _Oh my god, what is with today and hysterical females!_ Hinata looked up, her eyes pink with tears, and looked into his eyes with melting relief and the echo of concern. Naruto suddenly understood what she'd just been through.

"You know me Hinata-chan, strong as an ox, tough as stone," he reassured her, trying to stop her from giving him that look which pained him so.

"I thought you were…dead; that I'd never get to tell you that…that I…what I mean is: I…" _Pull yourself together Hinata! Get a grip,_ she scolded herself, _it's now or never! You know what? To hell with it! _She kissed him. Her hand buried itself in his unruly, blond hair and pushed his face towards her. He tried to draw back in surprise but she held him tight, as if someone would take him away the minute she let go. The sweet moment seemed to freeze; Naruto blue eyes stared back into Hinata's deep slate, their lips meeting in a match made in heaven. The world seemed stopped just for them.

All the while Kiba looked on in disbelief, sampling a bitter cocktail of jealousy and horror. He gritted his teeth, as if to stop the thousand different hateful comments from bubbling up his throat. _He's my best friend! How could he do this to!? I've stood up for him, and now he's muscling in on my turf! She's mine! Typical! __Now__ he's freaking Casanova. _The coiling tendrils of envy saw an opportunity and seized it by the throat. It grew, expanding, like mist over a Winter sea, whispering in his ear. _**He's been planning this all along. Look back, it was all acting. He was just waiting for you to introduce them, for you to soften them up then he could swoop in and snatch them for his own. **_Bitter envy twisted into the blood-red seeds of hatred. _**He's using you, are you going to let him? Let him know exactly who he's screwing over. **_His face warped into a grin. This was his chance. Naruto was weak. He was stronger. With Naruto here, he was taking what wasn't his. So if he…removed…Naruto from the picture, things would be as they should. His morals screamed at him, temporarily gagging the serpentine voice of jealousy. No, it wouldn't be permanent, Naruto would recover, eventually. And by the time he did, he'd have Sakura and Hinata eating out of his hand again. Everything would be back to normal.

"**Yip! Yowwwwwl!**"

The bark found him, in the midst of the corrosive cloud of wrath. It seemed to be far away, yet so near, like waking from a dream and it being on the tip of your memory. Kiba turned his wheelchair, following the sound. He pushed himself over to the balcony.

"**Yip-yow-yowwwwwwl!**" The howling continued, wrenching the last trace of malice from Kiba's thoughts. His wheelchair bumped slightly as the wheelchair hit the slim metal strip across the doorway where the sliding door came across. He tried again, pushing harder. His wheelchair came up slightly but fatigue (and muscle decay) caught up with him and he slid back down. He bristled with humiliation and annoyance, cursing the manufacturer with colourfully gratuitous language. Hinata looked up, her lips parting with Naruto's. He slumped back onto his hospital bed, a daft smile splayed across his face. Hinata looked over at Kiba, straining to remember what she was supposed to give to Kiba. _What was it? What…was…it?_

"**Woooowwwwwl!**"

That jogged her memory.

"Oh, I forgot to t-tell you Kiba, Akamaru's been lonely without you. I though I'd bring him along to cheer him up but the hospital won't let dogs in, so I…I tied him up outside, I'll take you down to see him. Sorry, N-Naruto-chan, I won't be gone long," she said softly, hopping off the bed and seizing Kiba's wheelchair, pushing him out into the hallway. Naruto sat up, looking remorseful to have lost her so soon. As if sensing his anxiety, she paused for a moment, turning to giving him a warming smile before turning away and continuing down the hall. Naruto lay back into the cardboard-like bed, basking in the residual warmth from his last kiss. _I should get beaten within an inch of death more often! These are the best three days of my life! First Sakura, now Hinata-chan, this is turning out perfect!_ Then it dawned on him. _First Sakura…now Hinata! Oh no…there had to be a catch, didn't there!? I have to choose, and no matter who I choose, I'll hurt one of them._ The very idea of hurting either girl cut him deeply. _Oh, why me?! Why now! If I pick Hinata, Sakura will put me back in a coma! If I pick Sakura, Hinata will never talk to anyone again! _He writhed as the choice taunted him, the answer dancing just out of his reach. The dread of the coming inevitable choice tore the grin from his face and the colour from his cheeks. _I'm doomed!_

Kiba fidgeted in his chair, twitching with the anticipation of being reunited with his first and best friend. The only thing that had kept him going through lonely days without human companionship was Akamaru's patient love and unconditional adoration. He learned never to trust anyone who walked on two legs; they were capable of things worse than a bite on the hand. The wheelchair bumped as they went out onto the pavement of the patient's garden. A mosaic path snaked its way around the various flowering shrubs, a glittering snake amongst the undergrowth. The trees stooped downward, their soft leaves and flowers stroking the faces of passers by. An ephemeral breezed picked the gentle scents of the flowers and twirled them around Kiba's face, his extra-sensitive smell picking up every individual part the vibrant mosaic of smells. He looked around, marvelling that such peace and serenity could exist in a place dedicated to sickness. Hinata wheeled him over to the pond, the water sprinkling his face as he came closer. A waterfall slid down a tall, dark rock face into the pond where carp swam, peacefully unaware of everything but their next meal; their colours standing out amongst the grey and blacks of the pond bed.

"**Yip Yoooowwww!**"

The howling snapped Kiba out of his blissful trance; he looked around for Akamaru, tyring to pinpoint where it was coming from. As they came closer, Kiba spied a snowy tail sticking out around the corner of a hedge.

"Akamaru, I'm here boy, c'mon!" He grinned leaning out of the chair with eagerness. They rounded the corner and Kiba finally saw Akamaru, straining against the leather leash which tied him to a nearby Jacaranda tree, his front paws waving in the air as he tugged and twisted. Hinata left Kiba's chair and unleashed Akamaru, who skidded over the path and jumped right at Kiba, nearly knocking the chair over. Kiba wrapped his arms around Akamaru, feeling the familiar licking on his face. Akamaru whined and growled softly in rapid succession.

"_**I missed you! Where'd you go? One day you left me at home to see the other boy then you didn't come home! What happened? I heard weird howling coming from over near the boy's house. Why are you in that…thing? Why are you here? Is that some kind of human kennel?**__"_

"I missed you too, Akamaru. I…got hurt and…well…I've been sleeping to get better for a while. They take people here to heal them and I…I've been asleep so long I need to learn to walk again." The words seemed like they came from someone else. He'd never though of having to learn basic stuff like walking again, and he'd never considered what Akamaru would have thought. He scratched Akamaru like he used to, right behind his ear. Akamaru's tail flopped back and forth joyously. They were there for hours. Things seemed to just let go while he was with his best friend. No jealousy, no hatred, just calm and companionship. Finally, visiting hours had finished and Hinata took Kiba back into the ward, leaving behind a distraught Akamaru; His yowling, whining and yelping where a symphony of disbelief and sadness. It wrenched Kiba's heart but there was nothing he could do. Hinata wheeled him back to the room where Naruto was already pigging out, as if to make up for the weeks he hadn't eaten, and a steaming tray of food lay on the bedside table for him. Hinata, much to his embarrassment, helped him back into bed and offered to help him eat but what little dignity he had left gagged at the idea. She left, promising she'd return when Guy Sensei gave her another a day off, she quickly kissed him goodbye, renewing the childish grin, and left, cringing under the corrosive gaze of the gaoler. Kiba sighed and began gnawing away at the semi-edible delights on the tray, hearing the wind outside moan as if in sympathy. He managed to eat half of what was on the tray before giving it to a nearby nurse and switching off the lights. Things slid into silence, the hum activity dulled to an occasional beep from up the hall and the buzzing of Naruto IV drip. He slid back into the stiff, cardboard-like sheets and was dozing of when a sound broke into his sleep. It was coming from under his bed. He leaned down warily, trying to get a look under the bed before he slipped off. A small, dark figure dashed out from the shadow and landed on him. He gasped and tried to grab it but it slid under the covers and made a second run up to his face. He was about to crush it against the bar on the side of his bed when it gave a gentle growl and licked his hand. Akamaru clambered up onto his chest and looked down, seemingly grinning smugly, and stepped down beside him, curling up next to him.

"Akamaru, what are you doing here? How'd you get in?" The blissful, content snoring told him that now wasn't the time for that conversation. Kiba sighed and lay back onto the pillow, comforted by the warm shape leaning beside him. _Maybe tomorrow…_

Gaoler- Australian spelling of jailor.

IV drip- plastic tube inserted into the vein in the arm to provide continuous supply of nutrients and hydration.


End file.
